The present invention relates to a washer, more particularly to an edible grain washer.
Cereals, e.g. rice or beans, need to be washed before being cooked. Rice or beans have been traditionally washed by hand. Such a hand washing process is uncomfortable and also tedious as one has to repeatedly use one's hand to stir the cereal in the water and to pour off excess washing water without allowing the cereal to flow out of the cooker with the excess water. In order to deal with this situation, an electrical washer has been developed, which conventionally involves a motor, a reduction unit, a stirring member, a washing bowl, a water inlet member, a water outlet member, etc.; the electric washer, however, suffers from the following disadvantages: (1 ) it occupys a part of the kitchen space; (2 ) it is troublesome to connect the water inlet and outlet tubes; (3 ) it is not easy to get all of the washed cereal grains out of the washer since the wet grains easily adhere to the stirring member and the wall of the washing bowl; (4 ) the washer itself is complicated in structure; and (5 ) it is power-consuming.
A pressurized washer has also been proposed, which includes a washing bowl having a conical bottom, a water inlet tube, a bottom water-jetting tube, a water outlet tube and a switch valve; the pressurized washer suffers from the following disadvantages: (1) it requires a water supply source with a relatively high pressure; (2) it is water-consuming; (3) it is troublesome to connect the water inlet and outlet tubes; (4) it occupys space on the kitchen cabinet; (5) it gets clogged easily and frequently fails to work effectively; and (6) it is troublesome to remove all the cereal grains from the washer.
The above two types of washers have not therefore been commonly adopted in homes.